Humanities 1A
Fall 2015
Information of the Humanities 1A Final Exams
There are two final exams for Humanities 1A – one in the lecture section and one in
the seminar section.
The “short answer final” is given in Morris Daley Auditorium (our lecture theatre)
on Wednesday, December 16 at 9:45 (and lasts until 12:00). That test is just like the
midterm but with questions based on material covered since the midterm. This test
is not cumulative. It will only include material covered since the midterm.
The “essay final” is given in your seminar classroom on Friday, December 11 at 9:45
(and lasts until 12:00). For this test you will need to bring a large blue/green book
which you can purchase from the Spartan bookstore. Bring two to be safe. That test
booklet should not have any writing on it when you show up for the test.
Below are six themes of Humanities 1A. The faculty will select four of these themes
and will write one question on each of those four. You will select two of these four
questions and will write a long essay on each of the two. Since you will have 65+
minutes for each essay, you will be expected to write thorough, well thought out
answers analyzing and connecting major works that we have read throughout the
entire semester. This test is cumulative. In other words, you are responsible for
knowing the readings all the way back to the beginning of the semester.
The six themes:
1. Representations of social relationships, cultural and political values. These
might include conflicts, systems of law, ideas of justice, social hierarchy,
equality or ethics. How do various cultures we have studied this semester
organize their respective societies?
2. Representations of religious beliefs and ideas pertaining to the afterlife.
These might include origins of evil, representations of the afterlife,
connection to ancestors or how people understand and relate to their gods.
3. The way in which cultural values are embodied in art and literature. You
should be able to connect features of artistic style to values held in that
culture. You would do well to know a couple of representative art pieces for
each major style that we have covered. For Literature, reflect on how major
works convey cultural values.
4. Differences in cultural or social values between different cultures or periods.
In other words, know some major differences between the Hebrew tradition,
India, China, Egypt, Greece and Rome.
5. The way in which human excellence is explored in major works of literature
and philosophy. How do models of good men and women differ? What
philosophical justifications are offered for claims about what is good? Think
about this not just in the Western philosophical tradition but also about the
ways in which western theories differ from those of China and India.
6. The way in which various writers have characterized the good society. What
principles or institutions provide the best foundation for a flourishing
society?
The specific questions will list five major works that the faculty believe are
pertinent to the question, and you will be asked to choose four to explore in some
depth. (You might have more personal choice when the question concerns works of
art.) So to prepare for this test, you will want to review the major works that we
have covered. Recall key figures, themes, arguments and events in these texts. This
includes literature, philosophy, and art works.
For instance, one question based on theme 1 could (but will not) be:
Compare the way that different leaders—whether fictional or real—have helped to
organize their societies. Discuss four of these five examples in depth to illustrate your
comparison: Gilgamesh from the epic of his name, King David in the Hebrew Bible,
Pericles, the character Lysistrata in Aristophanes’ play of that name, and Julius Caesar
of Rome.
Another way of thinking about this is that you should be prepared to write
thoughtfully for about 15 minutes on how any given text relates to a question. No
two texts will be used twice on the exam—so you need to be prepared to write indepth responses using a total of eight different texts. You won’t be able to pick
exactly which eight texts, so your best strategy is to broadly prepare.
Works you might be called upon to analyze:
Gilgamesh
The code of Hammurabi
Genesis, Exodus, Samuel,
Job, Psalms, Proverbs
The Book of the Dead
The Odyssey
Bhagavad Gita
The Jataka Tales
Agamemnon
Antigone
Medea
Thucydides
Lysistrata
Apology
Greek and Roman poetry
Republic
Nicomachean Ethics
Politics (Aristotle)
Confucius’ Analects
Daodejing
Zhuangzi
Aeneid
Epictetus, Epicurus, Sextus Empiricus
Metamorphosis
Also know major artworks from Egypt,
Mycenaean and Minoan art, Archaic, Classical
and Hellenistic Greek art, Roman art, and
early Chinese art